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"&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img hspace=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\" vspace=\"0\" alt=\"Conan O'Brien\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2010/01/18/0118_conan_dog_ex_tmz_01-1.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;One of the sticking points in the negotiations between&lt;strong&gt; Conan O'Brien&lt;/strong&gt; and&lt;strong&gt; NBC&lt;/strong&gt; is a custody battle -- who gets Triumph the Insult Comic Dog&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;and other characters Conan has created over the years ... sources tell TMZ. But we're told Conan will bag the dog, with strings attached.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sources say Conan and NBC are \"close\" on his \"&lt;strong&gt;Tonight Show&lt;/strong&gt;\" exit agreement -- but one of the remaining sticking points is intellectual property. Conan's characters -- like Triumph, the Pimpbot 5000 and the Masturbating Bear&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;-- are all legally the property of NBC (Triumph's rights are a little tricky and may be the property of Conan's longtime friend Robert Smigel). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conan wants to take them with him wherever he lands -- and we're told NBC will ultimately give Conan the right to his characters, in return for conceding other points in the exit deal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for what Conan may have to concede ... we're told the &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/16/conan-obrien-nbc-settlement-tonight-show-jay-leno/\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;non-disparagement clause&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is still an issue. Specifically, how long will Conan be prohibited from trashing NBC? Conan may have to fold on this point in order to walk the dog.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bottom line -- looks like the Masturbating Bear will live to self-gratify another day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;\n&lt;div class=\"related\"&gt;\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;span&gt;More Conan O'Brien&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;\n&lt;ul&gt;\n    &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/18/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-tonight-show-fox-jeff-zucker-contract/\"&gt;Leno vs. Conan vs. NBC -- The War is On&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n    &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/17/conan-obrien-jay-leno-tonight-show-fred-silverman/\"&gt;Conan, Jay -- Forget the Idea Was Mine &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n    &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/16/conan-obrien-nbc-settlement-tonight-show-jay-leno/\"&gt;Conan O'Brien, NBC Settlement -- No Trash Talk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n&lt;/ul&gt;\n&lt;/div&gt;\n&lt;div class=\"clear\"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;\n&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img hspace=\"0\" height=\"70\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\" width=\"14\" vspace=\"0\" alt=\"\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2010/01/18/spacer-1.gif\" /&gt;&lt;a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http://www.tmz.com/photos/2010/01/13/2371-team-coco\"&gt;&lt;img hspace=\"0\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" alt=\"\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2010/01/18/0113_remembering_conan_300-1.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/18/conan-obrien-nbc-triumph-insult-comic-dog-tonight-show/4/>